Indian Army General Identifies Five Key Lessons For India From The Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Lieutenant General Ajai Kumar Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Pune-headquartered Southern Command, has identified five key lessons for the Indian Army from the Russia-Ukraine war.

In an interview with the Indian Express, he shared his insights, highlighting the key takeaways for India from the war in Eastern Europe.

1. Room for conventional conflict

The General said that people have started to believe that the chances of a full-blown conventional war between countries is very slim. People have started to think that any war will be short, swift, localised skirmish in the grey-zone.

He said, "the strategic thinking before this war has veered to the notion that possibly conventional wars are a thing of the past. People had already started thinking that grey-zone warfare, small conflict, short and swift battles are the order of the day".

The Russia-Ukraine war has broken that misconception. India should be prepared for a long-drawn conventional war, especially since we have active border with two of our neighbors, he said.

"For India, this is something which is extremely important because we have two active borders. One of the important lessons is that India must always be prepared for a conventional conflict. We can’t let our guard down. The capabilities and intentions can change at any given point, relations can deteriorate very quickly," Gen Singh said.

2. Drone Warfare

General Singh says that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and drones have become a great asset in warfare. "The way drone warfare is unfolding is simply amazing," he says.

It is noteworthy that drones have become a key asset in Russia-Ukraine war.

From the propaganda superiority of the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 to the abundant use of cheap Iranian Shahed-136 suicide drones by Russian forces against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, drones have become a key part of battle.

Drones have not only enhanced situational awareness for opposing forces but have also provided high-quality footage of warfare, previously inaccessible to the general public. These high-quality recordings are also utilized to achieve propaganda victories within their respective populations.

Most recently, the Russian has used their suicide drone to blunt Ukrainian counter-offensive, by harassing supply-lines of the Ukrainian army in the Zaporizhia region.

3. Information Campaign and Narratives

The information campaign and the battle of narratives that is seen folding out in the current war also holds a very important lesson for India.

The General says, "The way the battle of narratives is unfolding has a very important lesson for us" adding "How should we chalk out our strategy for a strategic information campaign," should be on our mind.

As already stated above, propaganda videos using the high-quality footage from drones were able to turn public morale and sentiment from 'doom and gloom' to 'hopefulness'.

4. Civil-Military fusion

General Singh says that, "the Russia-Ukraine war has become something like a multi-domain conflict. So, the conflict is not only on the field and between the two armies, everything is being weaponised. Everybody is involved, both people in uniforms and those not in uniform".

"So, in India we have to look at a civil-military fusion, which will make our defences and capabilities stronger," he says.

Elaborating further the Gen Singh said, there are a lot of capabilities in the civilian domains. In the two states of Rajasthan and Gujarat, the infrastructure upgrades that have taken place are phenomenal.

"Today, we have the Bharatmala (road development project) going right to the forward areas".

He says that earlier we only had limited connectivity to border areas. Our strategy to defend was to deny access to these areas, but now it has changed.

"Earlier, we used to have a nodal concept of defence. There were only limited roads and tracks. Our strategy was that you deny road access, so important towns used to be held as a node. But today we have the Bharatmala project and the western freight corridor," General Singh says.

"My point is how can we leverage the capabilities that the country has for defense purpose," he further adds.

5. Logistics and Atmanirbharta

As the Russia-Ukraine war has demonstrated, logistics is the key component in planning if one plans to win a long-drawn full-scale conventional war.

"Another important aspect is logistics," the General says asking that "When the war goes on for a long period, how well are we prepared?".

Until now, India used to maintain an ammunition reserve according to Minimum Acceptable Risk Level of ammunition (MARL), which mandates Indian Army to keep enough ammunition reserve for a high-intensity full-scale war for 20 days.

However, the Russia-Ukraine war has shown that conventional war almost always outlast this duration.

Moreover, the General points out the critical issue of self-reliance in ammunition production.

"Another key issue is self reliance, 'AtmaNirbharta'. India is today at the cusp and we are saying that it’s Amrit Kaal. AtmaNirbharta in terms of weaponry and critical technologies is also crucial. There is also a focus from the government on these aspects," he says.

The General adds, "We, as Armed Forces, have to play a very constructive and positive role in this" adding that the government has to support (the private industries and MSMEs) in terms of policy and budget, while we will have to do the hand holding".

"A lot of our equipment is of Russian origin and spares have to come from there. So, now it is time for us to make sure how self-reliant we are even in taking care of the Russian equipment," he further says.

He also points out the challenge of the interim where the industry comes-up with substitutes of the Russian weaponry.

He says that the shift from foreign-made weapons to Indian ones will not be difficult, "when we consider the fact that weapons are weapons. The challenge is this interim period and we have to conserve and maintain whatever is there with us".

"We are ready to tide over a period of transition without affecting our operational preparedness," he adds.